Education written question – answered at on 1 April 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 7 March 2011, Official Report, column 889W, on sixth form education, what assessments he undertook prior to his decision to reduce the funding for entitlement to 30 funded learning hours.
holding answer
We considered a range of options in order to secure our commitment to full participation among 16 and 17-year-olds by 2015 and to deliver the unit costs savings announced as part of the 16-19 spending review settlement.
Our priority has been to protect the core education programmes offered by schools and colleges that equip young people with the knowledge and skills they need to progress and succeed. We have also increased the funding available to target disadvantage by more than one third (in 2011/12 the total funding will be £770 million) to help support those students who face the greatest barriers to participation in 16-19 education. We also recognise tutorial provision for all is important and that is why we have protected that within the entitlement reduction so that all full time students can have access to a tutorial programme.
In light of these priorities and the state of the public finances inherited from the previous Government, the entitlement was reduced because the evidence to support the claim that the enrichment activity within the entitlement provided value for money was weak.
That is not to say that the Government regard the other activities that might be funded from the public purse as additional enrichment activities as unimportant. However, at a time when we are experiencing a welcome increase in participation, alongside a need to respond to extremely difficult economic circumstances, providing an entitlement to those activities to all full-time students cannot be a priority.
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